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Top-down enrichment of oil-degrading microbial consortia reveals functional streamlining and novel degraders

Summary

Scientists developed a method to create powerful microbial teams that can break down crude oil more effectively than single microbes. By using enrichment techniques with increasing oil concentrations, they created a streamlined consortium called GT4 that could degrade over 55% of crude oil in one week. The study identified key bacterial players including Microbacterium and discovered new bacteria like Paracandidimonas that can degrade oil, offering promising tools for cleaning up oil-contaminated environments.

Background

Microbial consortia demonstrate superior efficiency in degrading crude oil compared to single strains by integrating diverse metabolic pathways. Top-down enrichment strategies have been successfully employed to develop hydrocarbon-degrading consortia, though the linkages between selection methods and the resulting community structure and function remain unclear.

Objective

To investigate how selective enrichment pressures shape top-down enriched crude oil-degrading consortia and to identify the functional capabilities and ecological interactions within these communities.

Results

The final consortium GT4 achieved 55.72% crude oil degradation at 5 g/L within 7 days. Microbacterium was identified as the dominant genus with key enzymes for alkane and aromatic compound degradation. Mesorhizobium functioned as a keystone genus with positive associations to diazotrophic bacteria. Nine bacterial strains were isolated, with Microbacterium sp. WS3 and Cellulosimicrobium sp. WS9 showing 57.85% and 58.60% degradation rates, and novel degraders Paracandidimonas and Caulobacter demonstrated 51.19% and 40.90% degradation rates respectively.

Conclusion

Top-down enrichment successfully generated functionally streamlined consortia with enhanced hydrocarbon degradation capacity and reduced phylogenetic diversity. The identification of novel oil-degrading microbes and keystone taxa highlights the effectiveness of this strategy for bioremediation applications and provides insights into ecological interactions driving crude oil biodegradation.
  • Published in:Frontiers in Microbiology,
  • Study Type:Experimental Research,
  • Source: PMID: 41415818, DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1656448
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